BANGKOK, Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chula
Faculty of Science has developed bioproducts to clean up oil spills
in the ocean from their research on oil-eating
microbes while getting ready to expand to
industrial-scale production for ecological
sustainability.
The crude oil spill from the subsea oil pipeline in Rayong
province in early 2022 was another major incident that devastated
the marine ecosystem while continuing to affect the economy and
tourism. Although various agencies have tried to remove oil residue
from the ocean surface, and along the coast, there is still some
residual pollution that will adversely affect the environment and
marine life in the long run.
One of the solutions for eliminating residual pollutants
is oil-eating microbes. The research and
development of bioproducts with clean technology by the
Specialization Center of Excellence in Microbial Technology
for Marine Pollution Treatment, Department of Microbiology, Faculty
of Science, Chulalongkorn University,
under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr.
Onruthai Pinyakong, has been researching and developing
innovative bioproducts to remove oil contaminants from the sea,
aiming at commercial production to ensure a sufficient number of
products in case of similar incidents in the future.
Origins of the concept of bioproduct to remove oil spills in
the sea
As an environmental microbiologist, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onruthai
has been interested in the contamination from oil and petroleum and
has worked on environmental pollutants degradation. And in
the past, there have been frequent oil spills at sea, some of which
made the news and some didn't.
"Usually, managing oil spills starts with the use of physical
methods, such as using oil booms, then removing oil from the area,
or spraying oil dispersants. Either way, a biodegradation
process follows. However, the limitation of the
biodegradation process is the slow pace and unpredictability.
So, if we can accelerate the biodegradation process after the
physical treatment, it should help to restore the environment,
while reducing the impact on the organisms in the ecosystem."
When the key problem lies in the biodegradation process, an
expert in microbials, such as Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onruthai does not
fail to think of "oil-eating
microbes" that can biodegrade the residual oil
pollutants in the environment as well as toxic substances in other
types of oil.
Thailand — the
source of quality and diverse microorganisms
To accelerate the biodegradation process, effective oil-eating
microbes must be used in sufficient quantities. Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Onruthai explained that microorganisms are already present in the
environment, but may not be sufficient or effective. To
increase the number of microbes, they must first be developed into
bioproducts or products so that they perform well in certain
environments, and have long shelf life while retaining the same
efficiency and quantity.
"Thailand is considered to have
high biodiversity both in the sea and other areas. It is a good
source of microorganisms that have the properties to degrade
various types of pollutants and petroleum. Therefore, our work
started with the search for effective microorganisms from many
different sources until we can develop them into products."
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onruthai further explains that in foreign
countries, one requirement for oil transport is that there must
always be a product to remove oil residue on board ready for use in
the event of an oil spill. However, in Thailand, there is only one such product on
the market as compared to other countries with a wide range of
options. Also, a product manufactured abroad may not be most
effective for Thailand's unique
environment.
"The microbes we use are microorganisms selected from nature
using a specialized selection process. The food source for these
microbes are pollutants that can be harmful to humans and animals,
but the microbes have enzymes that can digest those pollutants and
use them as energy sources without being poisoned. This also
includes other microorganisms that help protect microbes, such as
microorganisms that make biofilms or microbes that make
bio-surfactants allowing easier access to the pollutants."
In most cases, these microorganisms can be found at sources that
have previously been contaminated with those pollutants or in areas
with high biodiversity, such as sediments from the sea, sediments
from mangroves forests, as well as water or soil contaminated with
petroleum hydrocarbons.
"Our job is to find the right conditions, design and feed the
microbes, find ways to separate the microbes from nature and
multiply them and study the effectiveness and mechanisms of
degradation using a variety of biomolecular and physiological
methods to ensure that the isolated microorganisms are not
pathogenic, and safe for users and that when microorganisms
decompose pollutants, they do not lead to residues of pollutants or
cause more severe pollutants. This means we have to study
from the upstream, test the effectiveness and environmental impacts
until the final products are derived," concluded Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Onruthai.
Various bioproducts for different applications
After obtaining the toxins-digesting microbes, also known simply
as oil-eating microbes, the next step is to develop a product that
is ready to use. Currently, there are 3 main types of products from
the laboratory:
– Ready-to-use
microbial products liquid formula
Microorganisms are prepared as suspension form in the selected
substance, which will allow a longer shelf life and convenient use,
such as in blasting the contaminated sand or soil.
– Microbial products pellets
The isolated microorganisms are mixed with agricultural waste
materials and cell protectors and form into pellets. They can
be used to treat contaminated soil or sand, while also aerating the
soil and improving the effectiveness of the biodegradation
process.
– Microbial immobilization
This product is suitable for contaminated water. The microbial
immobilization will absorb and contain the oil that is the
microbes' food enabling the microbes to degrade the oil more
effectively. This type of product is widely sold abroad.
Although such bioproducts allow for complete degradation and are
environmentally friendly, there are still limitations to their
use.
"If there is a large amount of oil spill, the management process
cannot start with biological methods because they require a long
period of time and may not tolerate high toxicity, but these
products can be a supplement to other methods to minimize
environmental impact."
Expanding research into industrial production
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onruthai said that there are only a limited
number of oil-spill cleaning products for the sea available in the
market, and they are at a fairly high price.
"Price reduction is also one of the challenges in the
research. Our cost of production mainly comes from the
microbes feed, and the research team has experimented with using
industrial and agricultural waste materials with carbon that is the
source of energy for oil-eating microorganisms, to reduce costs."
Currently, what the research team has produced is still just
laboratory prototype products, but some have already expanded the
scale of production to the factory level. However, the
production capacity is not enough for real-world use in large-scale
oil spills. Some products have also been used in field tests,
including treatment of wastewater from factories, biodegradation
processes for refineries and gas stations of research sponsor
companies, etc.
"Our idea is to develop a variety of products to create
effective microbes, test production scalability, and preliminary
field test for oil dispersant and degradation capacity. If there
are people who are interested in expanding production for
real-world use, we can transfer the technology to enable produce on
a larger scale," Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onruthai said.
This research has received widespread feedback and support from
both the public and private sectors, including the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS), Biodiversity-Based Economy Development
Office (Public Organization) (BEDO), National Science and
Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Ministry of Higher
Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Chula Center of
Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management, PTT Public Company
Limited, Thai Oil Group, L'Oréal Research Funding for Women in
Science, and funding from Chulalongkorn
University who gives much importance to Bio-Circular-Green
Economic Model which is in line with the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
If the bioproducts to clean sea oil spills of Chula
Faculty of Science can reach
commercial-scale production and use,
they will be part of the BCG Economy using truly clean technology,
which the research team is ready to transfer to investors and
interested parties to collaborate and develop in the
future.
For the full release and more images, please visit:
https://www.chula.ac.th/en/highlight/84839/
About Chulalongkorn
University
Chulalongkorn University sets the
standard as a university of innovations for society and is
listed in the World's Top 100 Universities for Academic Reputation,
in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings
2021.
If you would like more information about this topic, please
contact Miss Thanita Wangvanichapan at (+66) 2218 3280 or email
thanita.w@chula.ac.th
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